Nano Basics Guide
Sherman Boyd
Sven Vermeulen
This guide is meant to be a simple introduction to nano. It will quickly help
you to become familiar with its basic operation.
1.62006-01-05Nano BasicsPurpose

This guide was written to cover basic operations in nano, and is meant to be
very concise. For more information about nano check out:

http://www.nano-editor.org

Opening and creating files

Opening and creating files is simple in nano, simply type:

# nano filename

Nano is a modeless editor so you can start typing immediately to insert text. If
you are editing a configuration file like /etc/fstab use the
-w switch, for example:

# nano -w /etc/fstab

It is very, very important that you use the -w switch when opening a
config file. Failure to do so may keep your system from booting or cause other
bad things.
Saving and exiting

If you want to save the changes you've made, press Ctrl+O. To exit nano,
type Ctrl+X. If you ask nano to exit from a modified file, it will ask
you if you want to save it. Just press N in case you don't, or Y
in case you do. It will then ask you for a filename. Just type it in and press
Enter.

If you accidentally confirmed that you want to save the file but you actually
don't, you can always cancel by pressing Ctrl+C when you're prompted for
a filename.

Cutting and pasting

To cut a single line, you use Ctrl+K (hold down Ctrl and then
press K). The line disappears. To paste it, you simply move the cursor
to where you want to paste it and punch Ctrl+U. The line reappears. To
move multiple lines, simply cut them with several Ctrl+Ks in a row, then
paste them with a single Ctrl+U. The whole paragraph appears wherever you
want it.

If you need a little more fine-grained control, then you have to mark the text.
Move the cursor to the beginning of the text you want to cut. Hit Ctrl+6
(or Alt+A). Now move your cursor to the end of the text you want to cut:
the marked text gets highlighted. If you need to cancel your text marking,
simply hit Ctrl+6 again. Press Ctrl+K to cut the marked text. Use
Ctrl+U to paste it.

Searching for text

Searching for a string is easy as long as you think "WhereIs" instead of
"Search". Simply hit Ctrl+W, type in your search string, and
press Enter. To search for the same string again, hit Alt+W.

In nano's help texts the Ctrl-key is represented by a caret (^), so
Ctrl+W is shown as ^W, and so on. The Alt-key is represented by
an M (from "Meta"), so Alt+W is shown as M-W.
More options

If you're interested in tweaking nano, be sure to read /etc/nanorc.

Wrap up

That is all! Thanks to kiyose and quazion from #gentoo. Again, for more
information about nano check out: